Lubbock's aging water pipes threatened by upgrades, say officials

Contractors will upgrade aging water pipes downtown and along 34th Street during the next year. In June, crews began more than $5.4 million in upgrades downtown to improve Lubbock's ability to fight a major fire.

The City Council could consider bids to replace six miles of pipe through Central Lubbock later this week.

Weaker pipes, especially cast-iron lines located downtown, can fracture under the strain of sudden changes in pressure. As contractors slowly attach new lines to old, one slip-up can cause water hammer - shock waves rocketing down the fragile pipes, city water engineer Wood Franklin said.

In smaller systems, such as an old shower shut off too quickly, a resident might hear a banging noise. In a water main, aging walls can fracture under the blast.

Engineers blame water hammer for three busted downtown lines in August following a thunderstorm that briefly knocked computers controlling the water system offline. A series of breaks that day shut down residential water service to certain neighborhoods for hours.

City reports show a fifth of a mile of ancient cast iron lines along the 34th Street project. Odds are better for problems downtown, where the lines are older and years of utilities shuffling leaves engineers with plenty of doubt about the accuracy of old maps tracking what lies underground.

Contractors have ways to avoid line-breaking problems, but in any major project, accidents happen, Franklin said.

"Obviously, you can't do work without expecting problems," Franklin said.